Summer School and Workshop on Optimization and Operator Learning

As event of SaC³ we organize a summer school and conference at the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo in Trujillo, Peru. School and workshop will take place from February 24 to 27, 2026. The summer school will be preceded by a pre-school on February 20 and 23, in which basic concepts will be taught and which will serve to deepen the knowledge of programming with Python.

This is a first preliminary announcement. Details follows soon.

Date and location

Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru
February, 2026

Venue

The school will be held in at the Universidad National de Trujillo.

Contents

The main topics of the school include mathematical optimization and the theory of learning operators using methods of machine learning. A group of lecturers, all experts in these fields, will give introductions.

In the afternoon sessions we will go into detail and learn how to apply the methods in simple Python projects. These Python courses are aimed at students with some prior knowledge of Python.

During the last days of the week we will go over to a workshop character. Experts will present their research in the field of mathematical epidemiology. A call for papers for your contributions of posters and talks will be announced.

Pre-School

We will organize a short pre-school with an introduction to numerical linear algebra and scientific computing using Python. During the pre-school, we will cover two topics that will be of interest during the summer school: the gradient descent method for non-linear optimisation and linear regression. Theoretical sessions will be held in the morning, but the focus will be on practical work in the form of exercises and programming experiments in Python. As we will be a small group, you will be able to work on your own projects under our supervision. Based on your programming experience, we will divide the group and also offer Python classes. We expect you to continue working on your projects over the weekend, ready for presentations on Monday.

Registration and call for papers

Application to the summer school and pre-school is now open. Two separate registrations are required if you wish to attend both events. Places for both events are limited. In particular the pre-school is limited to about 30 participants and we will select from your application. The results of the selection process will be announced about two weeks after the registration period. The deadline for application is December 19, 2025.

• Registration for the summer school and workshop (registration form)
• Registration for the pre-school (registration form)

Contact

Thomas Richer at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg thomas.richter@ovgu.de.

Organizers

Local organizers from Universidad Nacional de Trujillo

• Obidio Rubio Mercedes
• Julio César Peralta Castañeda

Responsible organizers of SaC3

• Stefan Frei, Konstanz University
• Dayron Dominguez, University of Magdeburg
• Thomas Richter, University of Magdeburg

Responsible Lecturers for the Summer School

• Peter Benner, Max Planck Institut for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems Magdeburg
• Malte Braack, Kiel University
• Thomas Richter, University of Magdeburg

• Thomas Richter, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg

• Dr. Obidio Rio Mercedes
• MSc. Julio César peralta Castañeda
• Dr. Edmundo Vergara Moreno
• Dr. Nelson Aragonés Salazar
• Dr. Franco Rubio López

Comité de Recepción y Turismo
• Prof. Jenny Rojas Jerónimo
• Prof. Alexis Rodríguez Carranza
• Prof. Rocío Rojas Jara
• Tesista Bianca Solorzano Carrillo
• Alumna María Laura Noriega de la Cruz

• Prof. Ronald León Navarro
• Prof. Orlando Hernández Bracamonte

• Prof. Juan Ponte Bejarano
• Prof. Luis Lara Romero
• Prof. José Luis Ponte Bejarano
• Alumno Jomar Rivas Cabanillas
• Alumno David Alexander Alfaro Benaute

Preliminary Schedule of the Pre-School

Friday, Feburary 20

09:00 – 09:30: Registration and Opening
09:30 – 11:00: Theoretical
11:00 – 11:30: Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30: Theoretical
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30: Python
15:30 – 16:00: Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:00: Allocation of Weekend-Tasks
Weekend
Individual Work on the Tasks
Monday, February 23
09:00 – 10:30: Theoretical
10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30: Theoretical
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30: Python
15:30 – 16:00: Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:00: Python (cont.)
18:00 – 21:00: Presentation of Tasks and Reception for Summer School

Preliminary Schedule of the Summer-School and Workshop

Tuesday, February 24
08:00 – 09:00: Registration
09:00 – 09:30: Opening
09:30 – 10:45: Course I - Optimization
10:45 – 11:15: Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:30: Course II - Neural Networks
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30: Course III - Operator Learning
15:30 – 16:00: Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30: Exercise
Wednesday, February 25
09:00 – 10:30: Course III - Operator Learning
10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30: Course II - Neural Networks
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30: Exercise
15:30 – 18:30: Excursion
19:00 – 22:00: Dinner
Thursday, February 26
09:00 – 10:30: Course III - Operator Learning
10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30: Course I - Optimization
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30: Exercise
15:30 – 16:00: Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30: Exercise
Friday, February 27
10:00 – 16:00: Workshop (Details to follow)

Python classes

The Python exercises will be carried on using its powerful ecosystem of scientific computing libraries, including:

• NumPy: For numerical computations and array operations.
• SciPy: For scientific computations, including ODE solvers.
• PyTorch: For machine learning.

Using JupyterLab for Programming

Throughout this course, we will use JupyterLab as a programming tool. JupyterLab provides an interactive environment for writing and running Python code. We highly recommend installing it in your Python environment. Please, follow the installation instructions of the official JupyterLab website.